Heart Of Dust
by KageNoYoko
Summary: An accident as a child leaves Ruby Rose afflicted with a condition that threatens her life everyday. Despite this looming death, the girl continues to look forward to the next day, as she trains to protect everyone's futures, and learn to care about others. But how can you learn to love others, when your heart can turn to dust at any moment. Reviews appreciated and help me improve.


Reaching down to make sure her cloak was secured tightly around her neck, Ruby continued through her last minute checks, starting with her sweetheart, and moving through the rest of the things scattered out across her nearby bed, from bullet casings to her knapsack, wanting to be sure she won't miss anything.

The 15 year old, with her back to her bedroom door, barely manages to catch the sound of the old oak door creaking open, and was immediately aware of who had come to visit her, having been expecting this final confrontation before she boarded the airship to Beacon.

"Uncle," She greeted, short and to the point.

"Ruby," Her uncle responded in kind, though the hint of worry was evident in his voice, but both knew the reason for it, "You have all of your things?"

"Yes Uncle, I'm just doing my final check-off now, and I made sure to tune Crescent Rose in the lab last night before bed," The girl answered quietly, as she slipped the casings into their appropriate belt loops, before hooking her bag off to one side.

"You are sure you will be able to handle yourself there? There is still so much we don't know about your...affliction, I am concerned that..." The silver-eyed teen took this moment to interrupt her uncle.

"We have talked about this uncle, and you agreed that I need this to further train my skills as a warrior," The girl reminded the older man slowly, "and you do not need to worry about my "affliction", Yang will be there with me, and she knows all of the procedures to take in case of an...accident."

"I know my dear, but I am still your uncle, and I still worry about you," He reminded her softly, having approached the girl, and threaded his fingers into her neck-length red hair, which made the 15-year old smile wryly.

"You don't need to worry about me taking care of myself Uncle, I promise you I'll be careful, and I won't take any unnecessary risks," The girl once again explained, adding in under her breath, "as if I want Yang fretting over me, she flies off the handle so easy."

Her uncle smiled at the girl's monologue, and laughed at her extra comment, before pulling the small girl into a tight, unexpected hug, and whispered into her ear, "Be safe, my winter rose."

The girl, shaken from her surprise, also wrapped her arms tightly around her uncle, completing the impromptu hug, and whispered back, "and you be careful, my dusty old crow."

The two moved their hands to each others shoulders, and stood an arms length apart, staring hard into each others eyes for several minutes, before both burst into raucous laughter at the previously tense moment.

"I know you'll do fine at beacon, just like I did, and just like your parents did.."

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A Pair of familiar silver eyes rolled in their sockets as she listened to the blonde haired girl beside her, who had, for the last 20 minutes since they left aboard the airship, been telling her, loudly, of the hundreds of things that could go wrong with this crazy scheme of hers.

"And what if we end up on different teams, and I'm not there in case you have a reaction, or what if there's a spill, and you aren't fast enough to get away, and what if," Finally fed up with the girl, Ruby snapped out.

"Yang, I know all of the risks, you and uncle crow have been trying to talk me out of this ever since I foiled that robbery and talked with professor Ozpin, and for the last time, you are not going to make me change my mind. . .Happen!" She cried in exasperation.

The two looked at each other for a few minutes, before a brief scowl crossed the older girl's face, and she said four words that Ruby couldn't argue with, "You don't know that."

Biting her lip, Ruby knew her sister was simply worried about her, but sometimes the blonde could be suffocating in her concern, and it bothered the redhead that she trusted her so little as to not be able to take care of her own life.

Just before the blonde could start off again about all of the things that might go wrong, a chime echoed through the ship, and the familiar, at least to Ruby, figure of Glynda Goodwitch appeared upon the screen.

"Who's that?" Yang asked, attention temporarily diverted from her baby sister's health.

"My name is Glynda Goodwitch."

"Oh..." and the two sat back to listen to the woman's speech, and spent the rest of the trip to Beacon in a comfortable silence.

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Unfortunately, the minute the airship set down, things began to spiral out of control for the 15-year old scythe wielder, and it quickly seemed as if her Uncle knew what he was talking about when he tried to talk her out of attending beacon, as it seemed things just went from bad to worse the minute her feet touched the pavement.

First was her charming front seat view of the now nicknamed "vomit boy", and she had to feel sorry for the poor blonde Boy, she knew exactly what it was like to have something out of her control to deal with, though if she was being pessimistic, she had it much worse than him, as he had ways to avoid his sickness.

Next Yang, sweet, lovely overprotective big sister Yang, ditched her for her older friends, making Ruby question why she had even given her the twenty minute lecture aboard the ship in the first place, but brushing that off in place of trying to regain her bearings after a bunch of the older students ran into her.

Then things became even worse, as she crashed into a stack of luggage parked nearby, and was cordially introduced to Weiss Schnee, The future number one threat to her health.

"What are you doing! don't you know how important this luggage is!" The older girl snarled at her, and Ruby felt her cheeks heating up in embarrassment for knocking over her luggage.

"I'm sorry, here, let me help you out with..." but the minute the girl's hands touched one of the cases, it felt like her entire arm had been lit on fire, and the semi-hidden silver wristwatch she wore released a short, sharp whine, before flashing red, luckily remaining hidden beneath her extra-long sleeves.

'Oh god,' Was all the girl could manage to snap out before her reactions allowed her to pull her hand away from the closed case, as if it had burned her, already feeling a blast of electricity running up her arm.

Trying to keep from panicking, Ruby began to steady her breathing, hoping against hope to stop anything from happening, especially in front of a stranger like this white haired girl, who simply screamed dangerous.

Unfortunately, while the red haired girl continued to try and stop the electricity running through her body, the heiress began her ranting anew, grabbing the discarded case from beside the girl, and cracking it open, pulling out a very small bottle filled with red Dust, stoppered with a simple cork, which she began to shake around irresponsibly.

"What are you, brain dead? don't you know anything about Dust! It's only one of the most volatile substances in the world, and I don't need a Neanderthal like you nearly setting off a chain reaction on our first day!"

Ruby gasped, and accidentally inhaled some of the dust cloud that the girl had shaken in her face, and felt as breathing became harder, and her heart rate began to increase slowly, making her panic further 'no, no, no,' She begged, trying to keep her mind on her meditation, and block out the girl.

a sharp stab of pain in her chest immediately broke her concentration, and she let out an audible cry as a hand flew up to try and shield the injured area, her ragged breathing going unnoticed by the ranting white-haired girl.

'Oh no, it's starting,' she thought, and prayed that something could happen, that someone would come and help her, that the goddess hadn't forsaken her yet in order to make such a small accident like this be the cause of her death. Yang would never let her hear the end of it.

Thankfully for the 15 year old, someone did notice her reaction to the dust cloud and stepped in to take the white-haired girl's attention away, and Ruby thanked her lucky stars for the intervention.

Standing between the two girls was, as far as Ruby could tell through her rapidly-blurring vision, a girl dressed in blacks and whites, with long black hair, and a curious bow perched atop her head, which she thought for a brief moment had twitched, much like a pair of cat ears.

Before she could begin to investigate the strange accessory, there was another stab of pain from her chest, and she doubled over, bringing a hand to cover her heart in a vain attempt at easing it, to no avail.

"Shouldn't you know better than to shake an improperly secured vial of dust powder in someone's face?" The girl's impassive voice sounded as clear as crystal in her ears, as she tried to fight back a shudder, and began to focus once more.

The Heiress it seemed, was unprepared for the comment, as she spluttered angrily for several moments, before regaining her footing, and glaring down the black-haired girl that had stepped in, appraising her with a withering eye, "How dare you, do you not know who I am?" The girl nearly shrieked, making Ruby's head spin further.

"Weiss Schnee, Heiress to the Schnee dust company," The mysterious girl listed off nonchalantly, "though I would have thought you'd use a crystal or wax stopper, instead of a simple cork, which could still allow some dust loose into the air where some poor soul could inhale it," The girl seemed to be reprimanding the white haired girl, gaining her full attention as the heiress bristled.

Ruby paid attention to none of this, as she finally gained some semblance of control over herself, and used the distraction offered by the black-haired girl to dash away, using her inhuman speed to put some distance between the growing fight and the volatile dust, finally sliding to a stop behind a tree, and sinking back to her knees as another burst of pain blossomed in her chest.

Resuming her breathing, she could finally feel the electricity running along her skin settling down, and sighed in relief when the throbbing pain in her chest lessened to a manageable level.

cursing herself out for the close encounter with the heiress, and her temporary loss of control, the redhead quickly agreed that staying as far away from the heiress would be the best plan for her health.

Otherwise her "condition" may be inclined to act up again. And that was the last thing she needed before she was even accepted into the school officially.

rising up onto surprisingly stable legs, the young girl brushed off the hem of her dress, making sure to dislodge a few loose sticks and leaves, before she deemed herself once again presentable, and stepped out from behind the tree...

Right into a tall, scrawny looking boy, who she recognized almost immediately, and groaned in her head as she noticed the kind smile on his face.

"Oh god, I'm sorry," She had to admit, his haste in apologizing was endearing, and she found herself fighting to remain annoyed with him, even as she found her eyes trailing up to his short blonde hair.

"Er it's...it's okay," She managed to stutter out, cursing herself for it a moment later in her head, as her silver eyes shied away from the boy, suddenly feeling very nervous in his presence.

"I saw what happened over there, with that white-haired girl and..." the way he trailed off made her think he wasn't sure what to say, or what he'd actually seen happen, but when a smile blossomed instead of a scowl, Ruby took it as a good sign, and put her best foot forward.

"Err hiya, I'm Ruby..." The girl offered weakly, holding out a very pale hand to the much taller 17 year old.

"Jaune Arc," The boy replied, and the smile he offered her made her heart leap slightly in her chest as she looked up into those blue eyes, before beginning to chew herself out for losing her focus, while the boy took her offered hand and shook it gently twice.

Maybe the next four years wouldn't be so bad, a small voice in the back of her mind spoke up.

this was quickly retracted, as no more than twenty minutes later the pair were standing lost in a garden, probably on the far side of the school, after realizing that neither had any idea where they were going.

though Ruby did have to admit, having Jaune around was a breath of fresh air, and never boring.


End file.
